Counterfactual quantum measurements
Abstract
Counterfactual reasoning plays a crucial role in exploring hypothetical scenarios, by comparing some consequent under conditions identical except as results from a differing antecedent. David Lewis' well-known analysis evaluates counterfactuals using a hierarchy of desiderata. These were, however, built upon a deterministic classical framework, and whether it could be generalized to indeterministic quantum theory has been an open question. In this paper, we propose a formalism for quantum counterfactuals in which antecedents are measurement settings. Unlike other approaches, it non-trivially answers questions like: "Given that a photon-detector, observing an atom's fluorescence, clicked at a certain time, what would a field-quadrature detector have measured, if it had been used instead?"
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.01888,
title = {Counterfactual quantum measurements},
author = {Ingita Banerjee and Kiarn T. Laverick and Howard M. Wiseman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.01888},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
5+2 pages, 3 figures, Supplemental material included. Comments welcomed